Strayed has won numerous awards for Wild, including a Barnes & Noble Discover Award, an Indie Choice Award, an Oregon Book Award, a Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award, and a Midwest Booksellers Choice Award, among others. Wild was chosen by Oprah Winfrey as her first selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0.

Strayed's writing has appeared in The Best American Essays, the New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post Magazine, Vogue, Salon, The Missouri Review, The Sun, Tin House, The Rumpus--where she wrote the popular "Dear Sugar" advice column--and elsewhere. Strayed was the guest editor of Best American Essays 2013 and has contributed to many anthologies. Her books have been translated into more than thirty languages around the world.

Strayed holds an MFA in fiction writing from Syracuse University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two children.